Behind the Bastards Part One: H.L. Hunt: The First Elon Musk
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May 12, 2026 
Princess Weekes, writer and cultural commentator, joins to unpack H.L. Hunt, the oil tycoon who pioneered right-wing media patronage. They trace his rise from gambling prodigy to wealthy influencer. Short, sharp stories explore his mythmaking, family roots, early exceptionalism, and how he built a media model later echoed by modern billionaires.
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Hunt As The Prototype Media-Minded Plutocrat
- H.L. Hunt pioneered wealthy conservatives buying media to force their politics on the public.
- Robert Evans compares Hunt to a proto-Elon Musk who built radio and TV outlets explicitly to push his views rather than build friendships.
Self Myth Of Precocious Genius Fueled His Career
- Hunt cultivated a lifelong belief he was intellectually exceptional, including claims of reading at age three and photographic memory.
- Robert Evans links that narrative to his later card-shark prowess and risk-calculating business decisions.
The Seven Year Nursing Story That Shaped His Ego
- H.L. Hunt told a family story that he nursed at his mother until age seven and treated it as proof of exceptionalism.
- Heather Hendershot notes Hunt framed prolonged nursing as prideful evidence that "normal rules didn't apply to him."
